Forty Stops on Memory Lane
by SylverEyes
Summary: Oneshot. AU: Forty memories of two best friends and the worst day of the year. :Rated for some language and some mature themes: Friendship! Warning, early fic, beware! Proceed with caution.


Okay, this is my first venture into the Teen Titans genre XD. Let's hope I get the characters right. -crosses fingers- People, this is one long oneshot, so if you want to read the whole thing through, you might want to set aside a chunk of time for yourself. Also, this is supposed to be a Robin and Raven friendship, but it could be taken as shipping if you so wish. And yes, this is AU.

Disclaimer- -insert witty remark about not owning the Teen Titans here-

-------

"_Hey!" a chipper voice chimed. _

_A six-year-old Rachel glanced up from the book she was reading. A young boy with raven hair and a wide smile stood in her front yard. He didn't look awkward or uncomfortable with invading her private property. In fact, he looked completely at ease._

_Rachel said nothing. The boy just continued. "I'm Richard. I just moved in next door. What's your name?"_

_Rachel considered him for a brief moment. "I'm Rachel." She told him, before going back to the book that she had been reading. _

_Richard sat down in a lawn chair next to her and looked at the book she was reading. His blue eyes widened in shock and awe. "You can read chapter books?"_

_Pride swelled within Rachel. "Yeah," she nodded. "I like to read."_

"_Cool."_

_---_

"Rachel."

Richard shook his friend's shoulder, watching her roll over and groan. He shook her harder, willing for her to wake up. "Rachel!"

All of a sudden she began thrashing wildly. Only Richard's quick reflexes saved him from being smacked across the face. He teetered for a moment before regaining his balance. An annoyed look flashed across his face. "Rachel, wake up!"

There were a few more moments of Rachel's wild panicking before she realized what was going on. She sat up and stared with wide, purple eyes at her best friend who was grinning at her like an idiot.

---

_The two kids sat in the middle of Richard's rather large front yard. The sun shone down on the two kids as they just talked. The two were already good friends, despite only knowing each other for a few months. _

_Richard picked a buttercup from the flowers scattered across the lawn, in between the lush, green grass. He held it under Rachel's chin._

"_What are you doing?" she asked, batting it away. It tickled._

_Richard grinned. "I'm seeing if you like butter. If you hold a buttercup under someone's chin, and a yellow spot shows up, it means they like butter."_

"_Oh." Rachel allowed him to hold the flower there again. "Well?" she asked, rather nervously._

"_You do like butter!" Richard smiled at her. Rachel looked back, her eyes sparkling happily. _

_Richard picked another plant. This time it was a dandelion. He held it up between the two friends. "Let's make a wish." He suggested to his neighbor._

_Rachel nodded. The both closed their eyes and blew on the dandelion. All the seeds were ripped off and floated away through the air. They children watched them for a moment before Richard broke the silence._

"_What did you wish for?" he asked curiously._

"_I can't tell you!" Rachel admonished him. "Then it wouldn't come true."_

_---_

"Richard?!" she whispered incredulously. He nodded at her. "What the hell are you doing here at five in the morning?!"

"You would have gotten up anyway to go running." He replied, sitting on the edge of her bed.

---

_Rachel sat on the floor in Richard's bedroom. She was watching him play his gameboy on his bed as she fiddled with his toy cars. Her friend was deeply immersed in his game._

_Suddenly, she spoke. "Let's tell secrets." _

_Richard looked up, surprised. "Um, okay." He told her, shutting off the toy. He looked at her expectantly. _

_Rachel shrugged. Richard laughed. "Alright, alright, I'll go first. Come here." He beckoned with his hand._

_Rachel sat on the bed and leaned towards Richard. He cupped his hands around one of her ears and whispered, "When I grow up, I want to work at the circus."_

_Rachel's eyes widened. "Really?" she asked him, voice also barely above a whisper. _

_He nodded. "My parents said I could if I wanted to. My parents said that I can do anything I want to when I grow up."_

_Rachel's eyes dimmed. "Wow…" she whispered. "I wish my parents said that…"_

_---_

"Yeah, not for another hour!" she told him angrily. A thought occurred to her. "How did you get into my house?" she looked around, lowering her voice even farther. "And if my dad finds you here…" she shuddered.

---

"_Of course she can stay over here. Drop her off whenever you'd like." Richard's mother looked sad and upset. _

_Arella let out a grateful breath. "Thank you," she said fervently, before kissing her daughter on the cheek. "Be good, okay Rae?" she told her. _

_Rachel nodded. Arella hurried off to her car and drove away. Richard's mother watched with an upset expression. _

_With a deep breath she composed herself and turned to the two children who were watching her. "Rachel, you're going to be sleeping over here tonight, okay? You and Richard can sleep in sleeping bags in the den, if you want."_

_Not understanding the gravity of the situation, the two children were extremely excited. Richard grabbed Raven's bag from her and began running up the stairs. "Come on, Rae!" he shouted back to her._

_She smiled and followed him. Richard's mother could hear them discussing what they were going to do together. "We'll watch movies, and eat lots of popcorn, and then we can tell scary stories…!"_

_She shook her head and shut the front door._

_---_

"Spare keys. The ones that you gave me a few years ago." He answered. "And don't worry about your dad. No one's going to catch me." He smiled with that trademark confidence. Rachel wondered how he could be so damn cheerful this early in the morning.

"What do you want?" she hissed at him, ready to explode if he didn't have a legitimate reason for being in her room.

---

"_Rachel!"_

_Her head snapped up. Something was thumping against the front door of her house. _

"_Rachel!" she heard the voice again. Another thump._

_Opening the door, something wet and rather hard smacked her in the face. Rachel looked out in disbelief and saw a grinning Richard standing all wrapped up on the walkway to her house. And holding a snowball._

"_Rachel, come outside! It's snowing!" _

_Rachel obliged, getting dressed up for the cold and trooping outside. She met Richard on the driveway between their two houses. "Dick?" she asked him pointedly._

_The second grader's eyes were bright, and his breath crystallized in the cold air. "Let's build a snowman!" he said, already dropping to his knees and beginning to pile snow up. Rachel watched him before helping, gathering snow from all around them._

_The two worked for hours, their cheeks turning pink and their fingers becoming numb. But they laughed and smiled the entire time. Their snowman turned out to be rather odd, with different sized rocks for eyes and a dead plant stem for a nose. But, to them, it was the best thing anyone had ever made._

_---_

Richard didn't answer her, but said instead, "I've got two warm drinks in my hands right here. Come on, get up. We're going for a ride, and we're going to watch the sunrise." Rachel then realized that he was carrying two mugs, both of them steaming with the heat.

She looked at her friend, puzzled. "Why?"

---

_Richard turned to look at the wooden gate. Rachel was walking in, looking around cautiously. She was a bit nervous about being around so many other people, most of whom she didn't know. But Richard was glad that she was there._

_As soon as she saw him, a small smile graced her face. He bounded over to her._

"_Happy birthday, Mr. Eight-year-old," she told him, before handing him a clumsily wrapped present. It was clear that she had done it herself. _

_He grinned and looked at the present. It was pretty large, and rectangular in shape. Sort of flat too. He shook it, but couldn't decipher what it was by the sound. Rachel rolled her eyes._

"_Just open it!" she told him, a little annoyance in her voice._

_Richard obeyed. He carefully unwrapped the colorful paper and looked at the present underneath with a look on his face that Rachel didn't know. _

_It was a painting. A beautiful painting of a robin and a raven. They were on opposite sides of the picture and were flying towards each other. The raven's side of the piece of art was dark, with many purples, blacks and blues. The robin's side was much brighter, with reds, greens and yellows. All the colors swirled around each other, and then met in the center where they blended perfectly._

_Richard didn't speak. Rachel started to become anxious. "I… I got it for you because… you know… we chose the birds, and…" she trailed off, feeling immensely stupid._

_Richard looked up. In his eyes, true gratitude was shining. "I… I… thank you, Rae." He smiled._

_---_

Richard's face became downcast. "You know what day it is…" it was a statement.

Rachel's eyes widened in realization. "Oh…" she rubbed at her eyes, trying to wake herself up. "Okay then, I'll meet you in your car in a few minutes. Just let me get dressed and everything."

---

"_Argh!" the shriek rang throughout the house. Stomping feet could be heard from up the stairs._

_Moments later, a girl with hair so black it looked almost blue, stormed down the stairs, eyes blazing and fists clenched tightly. Following her was a boy who was holding several pieces of sharp-edged glass in his hand and an extremely apologetic look on his face._

_Rachel spun around and spat, "Richard Grayson, I will never, ever speak to you again!" tears were filling her eyes as she caught sight of the broken glass in his hands. She turned back around and made her way into the living room._

"_Rae!" Richard called after her, trying not to cut himself on the glass. "Rae, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I was just sort of… waving my hands around and it kind of just… fell…" he finished lamely._

_Rachel glared daggers at him, the tears beginning to spill over despite how hard she was trying to control them._

_Richard set the glass down on the coffee table in the middle of the room and said softly, almost as if he didn't want to frighten her off, "Listen, Rae, we'll go out, and we'll pick out another frame together, okay? And then you can put that picture of your mother back in it. And I'll pay for it myself."_

_Rachel regarded him. He looked sorry, and very desperate to make things better. She nodded slowly. _

---

Rachel exited her house, pulling on her favorite blue fleece on the way. She locked the door behind her, and hurried down to Richard's car, zipping her fleece up to fight the November chill.

The girl slid into the passenger seat and grabbed her warm tea from her friend with a mumbled, "Thanks." She took a small sip and relaxed immediately, settling back into the seat.

Richard nodded to her and backed out of the driveway.

---

Kori waved to her friends as she got out of her car. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed towards them, a huge smile on her face.

Gar jumped out of Victor's car, and the older teen locked it before waving back at Kori. The two waited for her to catch up to them before walking into the school together.

---

_The two kids sprinted across the bridge over the small stream that ran through their large backyards. Trees began to surround them, and their houses disappeared in the background. They followed a trail through the woods, breathing hard, but enjoying every minute of it._

_After a few minutes, they reached a clearing. Trees grew on every side, and the serene sounds of the forest could be heard. They sat down hard, still trying to catch their breath from the run._

"_Wow, I've never even seen this place." Robin was standing now, and turning in slow circles, wondering at the peaceful place. He looked at his friend. "Impressive, Rae."_

_She shrugged her shoulders. _

_An idea sparked in his eyes, and Richard grinned. "Hey, I know! We should build a fort!"_

_Rachel gave him a questioning look. _

_He nodded eagerly. "You know, like we always do in my living room, except this time, with wood and stuff instead of pillows. Come on, it'll be fun. You know you want to do it." He elbowed Rachel in the ribs._

_The girl rolled her eyes, but agreed anyways. _

_---_

"Today is the four month day of birth for Richard and I!" Kori told her friends excitedly, scanning the crowd for a glimpse of her boyfriend. "I have everything planned out for us!"

Gar grinned. "Alright, way to go. Dick doesn't really go for long-term relationships, you know." He snickered.

---

_A nine-year-old Richard ran across the two front lawns and up to the doorway of his neighbor's house. He shivered slightly in the pajamas, but rang the doorbell and calmly waited for someone to answer it._

_It was opened by Arella. She smiled down at him. "Hello, Richard. Ready for movie night?" she asked softly, with a loving look in her eyes._

_He nodded eagerly. From behind her mother, Rachel peeked out. Seeing Richard, she said, "Dick, come on! The scary movie is going to start soon." She moved back into the house, her pajama sweats rustling slightly._

_Arella shook her head and moved aside so Richard could come in. She chuckled slightly at his excitement. "Rachel has it all planned out. There's popcorn waiting for you both in the living room, okay, honey?"_

_Richard nodded and followed his friend, plopping down on the couch and waiting for the television movie to start._

_---_

Vic rolled his eyes at Gar, but turned to Kori with an apologetic look on his face. "Hey, Kori, if I were you I wouldn't expect Dick to be very happy and interested today." He told his friend.

---

_Richard lay on the hammock easily, staring up at the clear blue sky, a perfect reflection of his own eyes. He let the slight breeze rock him back and forth, not really thinking about anything, letting his mind wander._

_Rachel lay on her stomach, reading a book. Her legs were bent at the knees, so that her calves waved lazily in the air. She absent-mindedly picked at some grass and turned the page._

"_Rae?" Richard asked suddenly, still staring at the sky and the one lonely cloud that traveled across it._

_She didn't acknowledge that she had heard him, but he knew that she was listening anyway. He continued._

"_What do you think of our friends?"_

_The question caught her off guard. He considered it seriously before answering him. And she shut her book. Richard was surprised. She was really thinking about this hard._

"_Well… I don't really know Gar or Kori. They're alright. Both of them talk a lot and can really get on my nerves." She made an almost unnoticeable face. "But Victor is almost like a brother to me. I don't know why, but I really like him."_

_Richard grinned. "Oooh… Rae likes somebody?"_

_He barely dodged the book that came flying at his face._

_---_

Kori was confused. "Why? It is one of our days- he should be happy."

---

_Richard dropped the rake, an annoyed expression dominating his face. "This is so boring." He complained. "We've been raking leaves for hours!"_

_Rachel just shrugged and continued their work, sweeping the leaves up into a pile that had been growing rather large over the last couple of hours. She paused for a moment to move her hands around and adjust her sweater. _

_Richard grumbled. "I don't want to keep raking." He paused. _

_Rachel knew him well enough to be able to tell that he was getting another idea. She sighed and stopped raking, looking at him expectantly._

_Richard rolled his eyes, but laughed. "Come on, be a normal kid for once, Rae. Don't expect some complicated plan- just jump in the leaves with me!"_

_Rachel's eyes widened in shock and she watched as her friend and neighbor dive into the pile of leaves that the two had been so diligently raking. She shook her head and crossed her arms, distinctly not amused with his childish antics._

_Richard poked his head out and, with a smirk, grabbed Rachel's arm and pulled her into the pile as well._

_---_

Vic shook his head, a sad expression flitting across his features. "Don't be so sure. Actually, don't be surprised if Dick doesn't show up for school at all today. Or Rae, for that matter."

Kori looked at Gar, who shrugged, giving her one of his "I dunno" looks. She looked back at Victor, who was off in his own thoughts, attention having slipped from where they were right now to something else.

Kori huffed, disappointed.

---

"_Come on, Rae! We're in fifth grade, and you're telling me that you don't know how to skateboard?"_

_Rachel glared up at her friend with mounting annoyance. "Skateboarding is not high on my list of to-do's." she informed Richard, with a hint of a snap in her voice. She leaned back against his fence and closed her eyes._

_Richard looked at her disbelievingly. He ran into his garage and came back out on his skateboard. "I'll teach you. It's easy." He raised his eyebrows at her, willing her to agree._

_The dark girl looked from the skateboard to Richard and back again. She seemed to be weighing the options in her mind. He grinned that cocky grin at her. She rolled her eyes and stood up. _

"_Let's get this over with."_

"_Alright!" Richard pumped his fist into the air. "Okay…" he led her over to the skateboard. Funny how a small, painted strip of wood could be so vastly terrifying._

"_Well… just try standing on it. You have to be able to balance before you can do anything else."_

_Raven, with much trepidation, put one foot on the board. It wobbled slightly, but didn't immediately slip. Taking a deep breath, she cautiously put her other foot on the board too. _

_Her balance was completely thrown off, and she fell off the skateboard, which went rolling down the driveway into the street._

_Richard was beside himself with mirth. A hint of pink tinged Rachel's cheeks as she scooted back over to the fence and closed her eyes._

"_Oh, shut up."_

---

Rachel turned away from the cliff, the sun having already risen above the horizon. She walked back towards her friend, a now empty mug in clutched in her hands. She stopped a few feet behind Richard, watching him unhappily.

---

_Rachel sat on the radiator that was right under the window, and stared out. It was an overcast day, and the clouds had rain pouring out of them. The water pounded rhythms on the roof of her house and she just watched as everything outside got soaking wet._

_Richard lounged on the couch, flicking through TV channels, never stopping on one show for more than a few minutes, even if he liked it. Normally this would have irritated Rachel, but today she didn't mind. _

_Richard would cast occasional glances at her, but didn't say anything, his attention always wandering back to the shows. For this, Rachel was grateful._

_She smiled a small smile. It was good, that Dick knew when he should just leave her alone, and when he should try to talk to her. She knew that he was a real friend._

_She also knew that if you could sit in silence with someone, but have it never be awkward, then you are definitely good friends._

_And Rachel knew that they were friends. The best._

_---_

He was standing with his back to her. In front of him were two graves, side by side. Richard had been standing there for almost twenty minutes now, just staring at the two headstones.

Rachel let him have his privacy.

---

_Richard stumbled over to Rachel's house. There was a glazed look in his blue eyes, and a completely shocked expression on his face. He kept shaking his head, as though he was trying to deny something. _

_Rachel looked up and saw him, just as he fell to his knees. He stared at the palms of his hands, mouth slightly open. _

"_Dick?" she asked worriedly, hurrying over to him. She dropped to her knees, and put an arm around his shoulders. "Dick!"_

_He looked at her, still shaking his head. "No…" He whispered. "It's not true… it can't be true." Tears were shining in his eyes. He shut them tightly and clenched his hands shut, biting his bottom lip._

_Rachel was terrified. She had never seen her friend like this before. "Dick, what happened? What's wrong?!" she shook his slightly, trying to get an answer. _

_He took a shuttering breath. "Bruce just called… my… my… my p-parents." Another breath._

"_What about your parents?"_

"_They… they're…" he opened his eyes. The tears were now sliding down his face, leaving wet paths. "Rae… my parents are dead!"_

_Rachel let go of him in shock, and he slumped to the ground. "They're what…?" She looked down at her neighbor, seeing him in a new light. "H… how?" she gasped._

_He shook his head, letting it hang down. Rachel grabbed his shirt, lending Richard some of her strength. She didn't know what else she could do._

_---_

Something sounding suspiciously like a sniff came from her friend. His right arm lifted up, and he scrubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He turned around and walked back so that he was facing his friend. Rachel bit her lip and tried not to show how affected she was.

---

_They lay on their backs in the leaves in Richard's front yard. The sky was gray, and looked as though it was going to rain sometime soon. Rachel closed her eyes, feeling insightful. _

"_Hey Dick?" she asked her fellow sixth grader._

_He rolled over to see her better. "Yeah, Rae?" he asked her almost lazily._

"_Why are there so many bad things in the world?" she asked him, fingered a hole in her sweater. _

"_I dunno. Never really thought about it." He rolled over onto his back again, and the two stared at the sky for a while more. Then Richard broke the silence. "Okay, that's not true. I have thought about it."_

_Rachel nodded. "There are so many bad things. Pain, fear. Hate. And… death." Here she glanced at her friend. His face had hardened. She winced. _

_He sighed. "I wonder too. Why can't there be only good things in the world? Everyone would be so much happier." He paused. "And I would have my parents back…" this last part was almost too quiet to hear. But Rachel did. She rolled onto her side and faced him._

"_I guess… because if there weren't any bad things, then there wouldn't be any good things either. You would have nothing to compare it to." She bit her lip. _

_Richard said nothing. He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes. Rachel sighed and went back to looking at the sky._

_---_

The two were having difficulty breathing evenly. For a few minutes nothing could be heard but the cold wind whistling and the few birds that were out chirping.

---

_Rachel sat on her bed, making sure that her door was locked. She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them, watching the clock on her bedside table. It ticked by so slowly. She gave a low growl and let her nails bite into her palms. _

_She heard voices from downstairs. Someone was walking up the stairs. Rachel hoped that it wasn't her father. _

_A knock on the door. Rachel's head jerked up. Someone called in a sing-song voice, "Raaacheeelll…" and then a laugh._

_She didn't answer the door. Her attention focused back on the clock. It had only been a minute. _

"_Rae, come on, open up. I have something for you." Richard's voice came from the other side of the door. "It's your birthday! Come out of your room, you're eleven now."_

_Rachel wrenched the door open. Richard's grin was frozen on his face at the look in Rachel's eyes. _

"_I don't want to celebrate my birthday!" she snarled at him, before making to close the door. Richard stopped it with his hand. He shoved the door open and made his way into her room._

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_I don't want to think about my birthday! I don't want to think about how happy my mom was before she had me. Before she had to get married to my dad…" Rachel ended in a whisper. _

_Richard took a step back. "Oh…" he looked around, feeling a little awkward. "I'm… sorry." He dropped his present for her onto the ground._

_Rachel looked away._

_---_

Richard got himself under control and stared Rachel straight in the eye. He smiled softly and finished off his cup of hot chocolate. "Well, come on then. I think it's about time we go to the store and buy some food."

Rachel nodded to him and they walked back down the trail to where Richard had parked the car.

---

_The two friends sat at a table in the lobby, both bundled up in scarves, gloves, puffy winter jackets and hats. Their cheeks were pink from being in the cold and the wind. Rachel had just come in from skiing and Richard from snowboarding._

_Both huddled in the heat, warming themselves up. They each had a mug of their favorite warm drink, and slurped it occasionally, sitting in a comfortable silence._

"_I'm glad our parents finally let us come on this vacation together." Richard told Rachel, smiling at her over the rim of his hot chocolate._

_She nodded, taking another sip of her herbal tea. _

_Richard watched her drink it, a question forming in his mind. "Hey Rae?" Her eyes looked towards her friend. "How come you only drink tea?" he asked her._

_Rachel glanced at him, irritated. "Why do you only drink hot chocolate?" she queried in return._

_Richard grinned. "Hot chocolate is the winter season drink, Rae. Don't you want any?"_

_She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I'll drink whatever I want to, Dick."_

_He shrugged. "Suit yourself."_

---

"Make sure you get bread!" Richard told Rachel, pushing the cart quickly down the aisles. She nodded and grabbed a loaf off the shelf as they passed, and threw it into the cart.

"What else do we want…" the boy mused to himself, looking at the shelves.

---

_Rachel's amethyst eyes went wide. Her mouth opened and she gaped at her friend. He shuffled his feet around awkwardly and waited for her to say something. Richard was starting to regret even telling her._

"_Wha…" Rachel shook her head, speechless. "Who?!"_

_Richard coughed. "Um… Kitten." He closed his eyes and waited for the blow that he knew was going to come._

_Rachel practically fell over in shock. "You kissed Kitten?! Your first kiss was Kitten?!" she couldn't breathe. _

"_Dick…" she started to chortle. "Dick, Dick, Dick… I thought you had better taste than this. We're only in seventh grade. You have plenty of time to get your first kiss." She tried to contain her laughter. "Besides… you could have picked someone better."_

_Richard heaved a deep breath and put his head in his hands._

_---_

Rachel grabbed a packet of fudge cookies and held them up before tossing them into the cart with all the other items.

Richard nearly smacked himself. "Of course! How could I forget the fudge cookies? We get them every year!" he grinned at his friend. She smiled at him in return.

---

_Richard stared. It was all that he could do. The smoke that was billowing from her house. It rolled in the air, black and stuffy. Richard could feel it choking his lungs, and his eyes started to sting._

_And the fire. The fire. It grew, licking at the sides of his neighbor's house, eating through the wood as though it was nothing. The siding burned up and collapsed, and the support of Rachel's room fell down, taking that side of the house with it. _

_Richard's blue eyes grew wide, and he felt his breath catch in his throat. Rachel was in there! So was her mom, and her dad…_

_A small figure lurched out of the house. She fell to her hands and knees, coughing wildly, eyes watering. Richard leaped forward and pulled his friend away from the ruins of her house._

_Sirens were sounding in the distance, and coming closer. Rachel couldn't stop coughing long enough to look up. Her eyes were clouded with the smoke. Richard held her up, because she couldn't support herself. _

_Rachel collapsed, and Richard fell down with her. He looked back up at the house, still ablaze._

_---_

"Okay, I think that's all. Time to check out." The two friends made their way to the front of the store, where they got in a line. This early in the day, almost nobody was in the grocery store, so they were able to cruise right up to the cashier.

---

_Rachel and Richard lay on the hammock in Richard's backyard. The two of them watched the sky, where the stars twinkled merrily. The black velvet sky looked so serene and calm. There was a silver half moon shining softly._

_Richard lifted his arm up and pointed at the sky. "See there? It looks like a bird flying." He traced the constellation that he had found with a finger._

_Rachel followed his hand's movements. She shifted to get more comfortable and looked at another part of the sky. "There's the big dipper."_

_Richard nodded. "Yeah. And there's the little dipper right next to it."_

_Rachel nodded. There was silence. _

"_It's really beautiful…"_

"_Yeah…"_

_---_

Rachel started to load things to pay for them. Richard was about to help when his cell phone rang. Both kids froze before Richard snatched it up and looked at who it was.

"Kori," he said, and glanced at Rachel.

---

"_Rae?" came Richard's questioning voice. He walked down the basement stairs. Grunts and muffled thuds were heard from behind the closed door. Richard cautiously opened it, peeking his head around the door._

_Rachel was there, wearing nothing but a tank top and shorts. Her ankles and wrists were wrapped, and she was beating the hell out of the punching bag that was hanging from the ceiling. _

_Richard felt sympathy course throughout him. He stepped inside. "What's wrong?" he asked his friend._

_Rachel answered with a particularly vicious kick to the punching bag. Richard's eyes softened. "Oh, I see."_

_He came up to the other side of the punching bag and grabbed it, holding it steady for all of Rachel's furious attacks. She didn't show her that she was grateful, but she was. And Richard knew it._

_---_

She shrugged. "It's okay. Answer it. She is your girlfriend."

Richard narrowed his eyes at the phone before shaking his head. "No, this is our day. Besides, I don't want to hear how happy she is right now." He put it back into his pocket and let it ring.

Rachel's amethyst eyes shown with gratitude.

The cashier watched this exchange, feeling totally in the dark.

---

"_Is it true?" Richard asked his friend, playing with a hackey sack almost without knowing it. _

"_Is what true?" asked Rachel, shredding both hers and Richard's math tests that they had recently failed._

"_Is it true that finally, in eighth grade, my best friend, Rachel Roth, likes somebody?" Richard smirked, eyes shining with mischief._

_Rachel froze. Her eyes slowly shifted from the math tests to her best friend who was sitting on his bed. She narrowed her eyes, gaze positively murderous. "What?" her voice was dangerously soft._

_Richard's grin grew even wider, if possible. "Yeah. Somewhere, I think I heard that a certain Rachel has it for the swim team captain, Garth."_

_Rachel paled. Richard was laughing so hard that he fell over. A well-aimed notebook knocked him out of his fit of hysterics. He rubbed his head and frowned. "Hey, what was that for?"_

_Rachel glowered. "If you tell anyone, I'll kill you."_

---

Kori looked from her phone to Victor, bemused. "He didn't answer."

---

_Rachel sat in the comfortable armchair, watching her best friend. He was stretched out on the couch languidly, flipping through channels before finally settling on one with some unknown stand up comedian hopeful. _

_Her eyes traced over the planes of his face, from the high cheekbones and full, laughing mouth to the wide, blue eyes and spiked up raven black hair. He gazed at the television, every now and then laughing at one of the jokes._

_Rachel felt a tug at her heart. When had she started thinking of Dick as more than a friend? When had he moved from the best friend category up to crush? _

_Richard noticed his neighbor staring at him with catlike eyes. He smiled at her, and her heart leapt. "What is it, Rae?"_

_She shook her head. "Nothing… I know that you're just a friend."_

_Richard's head snapped around and he stared at her quizzically. "Um… what?"_

_Rachel blushed. Had she said that last part out loud? "Uh…"_

_Richard scratched the back of his head, feeling very awkward. "Wow… um… heh, Rae…" he shook his head. "I… I don't like you that way. We're just friends."_

_She nodded, not able to bear looking him in the eye._

_---_

Vic shrugged. "I told you he wouldn't. Listen Kori, just leave Dick alone today. Any other day would be fine, but not today."

Kori pouted, but put her phone away and went back to eating her lunch.

---

_Every day Richard would watch her. She would get up before the sun rose every morning and go running, no matter the weather, or how cold it was. She would do it every day, without fail, and then return home to get ready for school._

_One day Rachel heard footsteps behind her. She listened, but did not turn around to see who it was. A panting Richard caught up with her. He was heaving breaths much harder than she was. _

_They didn't speak. The never said a word to each other these mornings. At first, Richard found it difficult to keep up with Rachel, but after a while he improved. Their paces were evenly and exactly matched, and every morning they would get up before school and go running together._

---

A blue blanket was neatly spread over a soft patch of grass. Food was set out around the two figures who sat together on the blanket, quietly munching their breakfast together.

---

_Rachel sat at her dining room table, diligently working in her sketchbook. She outlined the facial features before going back and filling in with detail. Shading around the eyes, and around the nose, and highlights in the hair. _

_Richard slid into her house with his earbuds in, nodding his head to the beat of the loud music blasting into his head. Seeing Rachel, he danced over to her and leaned his forearms on the table._

"_Hey Rae!" he practically shouted, making Rachel jump about two feet into the air. "What's up?"_

_Rachel panicked. She slammed her sketchbook shut and tried to shove it out of view but all the movement caught Richard's eye. He pulled one of his earbuds out and spoke in a normal voice. "Hey, what's that?"_

_Rachel tried to grab the book, but Richard was too quick and he snatched it. "A sketchbook?" he began flipping through the pages. "Since when do you draw?" He stopped at a picture of an explosion. "Wow… you're pretty good."_

_Rachel sighed, resigned. "Thanks…" she watched him looking at all her pictures. "Do you want to see my favorite?" she asked him, and took the book back without waiting for an answer._

_Richard watched as she flipped to one in the middle and handed it back to him. He looked at the drawing. It was a picture of the two of them, a close up of their faces, both of them smiling. At the top was written in Rachel's no nonsense handwriting "best friends"._

_He grinned at her._

_---_

"Another peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Rae?" asked Richard, making himself one as he offered.

Rachel declined. She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, letting memories wash over her. Her mouth tightened into a hard line, but she didn't open her eyes, still letting some of the emotion that she had kept locked up break free of their restraints.

Richard put his sandwich down, watching his friend. He sighed. He could feel his best friend's pain, almost as clearly as he felt his own. He was trying to ignore it, but Rachel was welcoming it, remembering.

---

_Richard turned to the people looking at him with huge smiles on their faces. "My friends, we are no longer middle schoolers." He gave Kori a high-five and turned to Rachel. She smirked._

"_Ready for high school?" _

"_Hey, hey, hey!" Richard put his hands up as if to ward off her words. "Let's not talk about school! We've got the entire summer ahead of us to do that." He grinned at her._

_Rachel smiled back. "But are you ready?" she repeated._

_Richard shook his head. "No. But who cares? We aren't immature anymore!"_

_The dark girl rolled her eyes. "Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that." She told him, laughing a bit._

_Richard gave his best friend a hug. "Lighten up! Celebrate! It's summer!"_

_Rachel was stunned for a moment, but after a second she hugged him back._

_---_

"Rae, I don't want to remember," he whispered, scooting closer to his friend.

She answered in a whisper as well. "It's good to remember, Dick. If only for today, let yourself remember. Let yourself hurt." She bit her lip.

Richard felt his hand entwine with his friend's, and he closed his eyes too.

---

"_Excuse me?!" Rachel snarled at Richard, advancing on him threateningly. "How did you find out?"_

_Richard, not at all intimidated, grinned. "You can't expect Wally to ever keep his mouth shut. I thought you knew better than that, Rae." Richard shook his head. "My best friend Rachel finally made out with somebody. Took you long enough- you're fourteen!"_

_Rachel pushed Richard forcibly into the wall behind him, and grabbed the front of his shirt. If looks could kill, Richard would be dead ten times over by now. _

"_Dick, if you ever tell anybody about me and Wally, I will come after you, and let me tell you, it will not be pleasant." She snarled at her best friend, face two inches away from his._

_Richard raised an eyebrow, smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth, but agreed. "Okay, I promise. My lips are sealed."_

_Rachel gave him one last glare before releasing him. Richard chuckled quietly to himself._

---

"School's over, and Dick and Rae still haven't shown up!" Gar said, following Victor to his car.

Victor rolled his eyes. "I told you that they wouldn't. Don't go bothering those two today. Get in the car, I've got to drive you home and come back in time for sports."

---

_Richard and Rachel sat cross-legged across from each other, snacking on crackers and humus. They munched contemplatively, both staring off into space._

_Richard snapped out of it first and looked at his friend and neighbor. He dipped another cracker into the humus and asked her, "What are you thinking about Rae?"_

_Rachel snapped out of it. "Hmm? Oh… I don't know. I guess I was just thinking about love."_

_Richard was taken aback. "Love?" he asked. "What do you mean 'love?'"_

_Rachel shrugged. "Well, I was just thinking about my family. I think my mom loves me. I know that I love her. But my dad…" she trailed off, an icy look in her eyes._

_A look of recognition crossed Richard's face. "Oh…" he sighed. "Well… I know what you're talking about. My parents loved me, and I loved them. But Bruce…" he paused. "Well… we care about each other, sure. I just don't think it's love."_

_Rachel sucked her lips in blew out loudly before putting another cracker to her lips. She shrugged her shoulders half-heartedly and laughed anxiously. "Well… I guess we both have 'love stuff' that we've gotta deal with." She smiled sadly._

_---_

Gar obeyed, still trying to make sense of what little information he had. "But I don't get it. What is so important about today that two of our friends are both missing, huh?"

Vic buckled his seatbelt, and backed out of the space. "I can't tell you. If you were supposed to know, one of them would have told you themselves, but I can't tell you. It's not my secret to tell."

---

_Richard answered the door, wondering who would be ringing his doorbell at nine at night._

_Opening the door, he saw a shivering Rachel standing there with a tiny overnight bag and in a too large sweatshirt. She looked up at Richard through long eyelashes, attempting to hide the fearful expression that she knew was on her face._

"_Rachel?!" Richard exclaimed, watching her shiver on his front steps. "What's going on?"_

_Rachel shook her head. She cleared her throat unhappily and asked in a small voice. "Hey Dick, could I maybe crash here tonight?" Her eyes flickered back to her house._

_Richard followed her gaze. He nodded. "Always." And moved aside to let his best friend come through the doorway. He gave her house one last look before taking a deep breath angrily, and shutting the door._

_---_

Gar slouched in his seat and sulked the entire way home.

---

_Rachel's eyes practically glowed with rage. She was pacing back and forth, clenching and unclenching her fists rapidly. "How could she do that to him?" she asked furiously, whirling on Richard._

_He was emotionally exhausted, and didn't want to deal with this right now. He shook his head. "I don't know Rae. I don't know how anyone could do that to Gar, but she did." He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes._

_Rachel grit her teeth. "That witch." She whispered passionately. She turned back to Richard. "Do you know what she said to me?!"_

_He shook his head, not opening his eyes._

_Rachel took a deep breath trying to calm herself. "Tara comes up to me and says 'Hey, you know how it is. You use what you have to get what you want.' Can you believe her?!" the girl stormed._

_Richard opened his eyes. "Rae, sit down, you're wearing yourself out. We'll get Tara, no worries. But right now, you're not helping anyone, least of all Gar, by beating a tattoo into the floor."_

_Rachel grudgingly sat down. As soon as she did, she felt an unbearable sleepiness come over her. She put her head in her hands and sighed._

---

Both teens lay on their backs in the grass, all remnants of their picnic packed away except for the fudge cookies. They both ate them with almost a mechanical movement of their arms.

---

_It was four in the morning on a Saturday night, and the television was still on. It was flashing some game show where the only people who called in to win money were the crazy ones who were up that late._

_On the couch two kids were sleeping. Richard lay on his back, one arm hanging off the couch. That hand used to hold the remote, but it had slipped out of his grasp once he had fallen asleep._

_On top of him was Rachel. She was nestled snugly between the back of the plush couch and Richard's body. Her head was tucked under his chin and on his shoulder. She took a deep, contented breath, and snuggled closer to her best friend._

_Richard tightened his grip around his neighbor and smiled in his sleep._

_---_

"I had such a good life. Everything was great. You were my best friend and my neighbor. My parents loved me. I had a fun time in school, and I had other friends too. Everything seemed perfect." Richard broke a cookie in half and handed one half to Rachel.

---

"_Come on, Rae, you know you want me." Richard wiggled his eyebrows at her. Rachel rolled her eyes._

"_Fifteen and still ridiculously immature." She commented, before going back to the history homework she had been working on._

_Victor watched the exchange with an amused expression on his face. "Have you two ever actually considered getting together? You know, instead of just teasing each other all the time."_

_They both looked at him, surprised. Richard shook his head. "Are you kidding? Rae is like a sister to me."_

_Rachel nodded. "I don't think it would ever have worked out anyway. You know Dick…" she explained smugly. Vic nodded._

"_Wait… what?" Richard asked, completely bewildered. "What are you talking about? What do you know about me? Rachel!" but she refused to answer him._

_---_

"Then, all of a sudden, everything changed. I don't know how it happened. But one day they were there. The next day, they were gone, in some kind of freak accident. And all I knew was that now I had to live with Bruce, and I was never going to see them again."

Rachel said nothing, but chewed her cookies and stared at the sky above them.

---

"_How did you know?" asked an incredulous Richard, following his friend back to her house._

_Rachel rolled her eyes. "Because, unlike you, I can read body language. Roy has it bad for Jade." She began to walk up the steps of her porch._

"_But Roy is one of my buddies! How did you know before I did?" protested Richard, still following Rachel._

_She whirled on him. "I'm a girl! Of course I could tell." She turned back around and opened the door to her house._

_Richard crossed his arms and moved so his face was right in the open door. "But, I still don't…"_

_Rachel rolled her eyes. "I just know, okay? Oh, and tell Roy that Jade likes him too. She just likes playing hard to get." And she shut the door in her best friend's face. Richard was left standing on her porch._

_---_

"I was only ten years old! I didn't know how to deal with that. That's why I was with you almost constantly after that. I didn't know what to do, and you didn't push me away. Bruce didn't either, but I wasn't ready to welcome him. It felt like he was trying to replace my parents."

---

"_This is so awkward…" Rachel told Richard, lying on his bed. "I don't know how I'm going to talk to him after this."_

_Richard threw a pillow at her and sat by her head. "Well, he is a year younger, which should probably help."_

"_But he's Gar!" Rachel repeated, as though Richard hadn't heard the first time. "I don't want him to like me- he's like my annoying little brother."_

_Richard shrugged. "If you don't flirt with him, and don't laugh when he tells a joke, that kind of stuff, he'll realize that you don't like him. And he'll get over you." Richard leaned down over Rachel's face and grinned._

_Rachel waved him away. "Since when have you become an expert on rejection?" she smirked. "From experience?"_

_Richard made a face at her. "No."_

_Rachel grinned. "Sure."_

_---_

Richard sighed. Rachel blinked. She began.

"I thought I had lived through the worst of everything. My dad is abusive. He shouts at me and my mom. He hits my mom almost every day. And when he doesn't, he's ordering someone else to. He hits me too, but I can get away sometimes. My mom can't." she paused.

---

"_I'm not going to discuss this with you, Dick." Rachel said, feeling extremely uncomfortable. She dealt the cards out again, giving half to Richard and keeping half for herself._

_Richard smirked. "You don't want to talk about this with your best friend? Come on, just tell me. It's not like I'm going to be telling anybody else, you know." He picked up his cards._

_Rachel rolled her eyes and put her first card down. A three. "I don't care. I don't talk about kissing with anybody. Least of all my best friend. That's just awkward."_

"_Just this one time." Richard wheedled, putting his card down. A six. He took both cards with a grin._

_Rachel narrowed her eyes at her neighbor. "You aren't going to leave this alone, are you?" she asked him. He shook his head._

_Rachel sighed. "Okay. Just this one time. What do you want to know?" she flinched. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this."_

_Richard thought for a moment. "What do you think is hot, when it comes to kissing?" _

_Rachel bit her lip. "Well… if there's a lot of build-up before the kiss, you know? If you both stare at each other for a while, get real close, really lightly touch, that kind of thing." She threw down her next card. It was a nine._

_Richard put his own card down. Also a nine. "War!" he grinned, and put three cards facedown. Rachel followed suit. Then they both put another card down facing up. Rachel's was a ten, and Richard's was a five._

"_Ha!" Rachel exclaimed, and took all of the cards. "What about you?" she asked._

_Richard shrugged. "It's pretty fun when the girl, you know, basically falls down. Then you know you're good." He grinned at her._

_Rachel rolled her eyes._

_---_

"My dad owns half this town, the good guys and the bad guys, even though there are some people who would still arrest him. That's why we live in such a big house, in a rich neighborhood, with you. But I would rather be homeless than live off of his dirty money." She said distastefully.

---

_Richard walked into the bathroom of Kori's house. As soon as he did, a yell reached his ears. He winced and looked. _

_Rachel was standing there in a pair of denim cutoff shorts, and a black bra with purple hearts on it. She stared at Richard, one hand behind her back, as she was holding her bra together._

"_Rae?" Richard asked, taking her appearance in. His blue eyes moved from her shapely legs, up her flat stomach to the bra. He couldn't do anything but stand there and stare._

_Rachel was trying to cover herself up. "Ugh, Dick, you are the last person that I want to see right now." Color was in her flushed cheeks, but her voice showed almost no emotion._

_Richard recovered. "What are you doing?" he asked, moving farther into the bathroom, and almost stepping on the tank top that was on the bathroom floor. He picked it up._

_His friend glared. "If it's any of your business, I'm looking for a safety pin, because my bra clasp came apart." She resumed rummaging through the medicine cabinet above the sink._

"_Here let me help." Richard moved next to her. When Rachel began to protest, he rolled his eyes. "It's not like I haven't seen you in a bathing suit before. This is the same thing."_

_Rachel shook her head. The two jostled for a minute. There was a lot of arguing and shoving before there was the inevitable slip. Rachel found herself pinned against the bathroom wall with Richard on top of her. Their faces were only an inch apart. _

_Richard stared into Rachel's amethyst eyes. A moment passed that felt like an eternity. Electricity sparked between the two, and then Richard started laughing. It was infectious, and Rachel reluctantly began to chuckle too. They pulled away from each other._

_Richard was still laughing when he said to her. "Come on. Let me help you. Maybe then I can go to the bathroom."_

_---_

"Anyway, I didn't really know what it was like to have a loving father. I was jealous of you, but I didn't show it. I was also happy for you, because you were my best friend, and you deserved it."

Richard turned his head to look at Rachel.

"I thought the worst thing ever had happened when your parents died. I was so lost. It was almost like my own parents had died, ones who had loved me all the time, and cared about me."

---

_Rachel's back stiffened. She turned around slowly. "No…" she said, her eyes flashing with something that looked suspiciously like anger._

_Richard nodded to her. He stepped closer and spread his hands wide. "It's true. I don't know when it happened, but it did." He looked imploringly at her._

_Rachel shook her head. "No. Sorry, Dick, but remember when I liked you in eighth grade? I spent so long trying to get over you and move on, because you didn't like me back. I'm not going to bring those feelings up again."_

"_Please, Rae!" Richard felt as though he was begging. "I was young then… and you were my best friend, and I was stupid…" he didn't know what else to say._

_Rachel smiled sadly. "You're still young, you're still my best friend, and you're still pretty stupid. Sorry, Dick, but it's not going to happen. I love you, but not that way. Not anymore."_

_Richard felt as though his heart was being torn in two._

"_But if you're looking for someone, I know a certain redhead friend of ours who would be glad to oblige." And Rachel walked away._

_---_

"But then… my dad was doing one of his experiments in his lab. You know, the room that we were never allowed into. Something went wrong, I think. But that's not what started the fire- he started it, on purpose. Because he didn't want the authorities to find whatever it was that he had done."

She sucked in her cheeks, eyes beginning to flame with anger.

---

"_Took you long enough. We're sixteen and she's had the hugest crush on you for, what, three years?" Rachel rolled her eyes and approached Richard. _

_He shrugged. _

_Out of nowhere, Rachel ran at him and pinned him against the nearest wall, taking a fistful of his shirt in her hand. She looked him square in the eye._

"_Hey, I'm getting déjà vu." Richard told her, grinning._

_Rachel ignored him. "Since Kori is my best friend-" Richard began to protest, a hurt look in his eyes, "-who's a girl, I have to give you this speech, because you guys are officially going out now."_

"_If you ever, ever hurt her, I will pull your eyes out of your head and put them on a shelf so that they can watch what I do to the rest of your body. I will pull every single hair out of your head one by one, and then I will cut your body up, sliver by sliver, painfully slowly, from your toes all the way up to your head."_

_Rachel then let him go, and smiled at him as though she hadn't just threatened the hell out of him._

_Richard nodded, usual cocky smile a little shaky. "Point taken."_

_---_

"He started the fire to cover up his own dirty work, and it almost killed my mom. My mom, the only person who ever tried to protect me from him, the one who actually loved me. She was critical for so long, they thought she for sure wouldn't live. Somehow, somehow, she made it through."

Richard put his hand on top of Rachel's, trying to give her support.

---

"_Kori is so ridiculous!" Richard raged, pacing back and forth in Rachel's room. He had stormed over to her house after being kicked out of Kori's. _

_Rachel sighed, turning a page in her book and continued reading. A little spat like this was not uncommon in Dick and Kori's relationship. When they argued, Rachel was always the one stuck with dealing with Richard's turbulent emotions._

_However, being kicked out of her house was a little extreme. It was the first time that this had ever happened. But, Rachel knew that this would blow over too._

"_What did she do this time?" Rachel asked in a bored voice._

_Richard didn't seem to notice. He just shook his head and collapsed into a chair in a corner of the room. _

"_Okay…" she sighed. "You should go apologize to her."_

_Richard was indignant. "I didn't do anything! It's all her, she's the one who started this, and kicked me out!"_

_Rachel shrugged. "Okay. But you should apologize anyway. It would make Kori feel better." She rolled her eyes at Richard's frown._

_---_

"It's funny, you know. The fact that it's all on the same day. Your parents' death and my house burning down, almost killing my mom."

Rachel sat up, bringing Richard with her. She began to laugh. Her small shoulders shook as she grew hysterical. It made her look so fragile to Richard. He brought her closer, leaning her head on his chest.

And still she laughed, giggles erupting from her mouth. Richard felt his anger bubble up. Anyone who could do this to his best friend deserved to get theirs.

---

_Rachel kept glancing nervously at Richard. He was groaning and holding head, trying not to be sick all over the upholstery in her car. She shook her head, and looked around at the streets._

_She talked to her best friend, even though she knew that he probably wasn't listening. "You know, I'm risking my ass for you right now. You're drunk, and I have to drive you home at two in the morning, which is two hours past my driving curfew. You know I could get my license taken away if I'm caught driving past midnight."_

_Richard just moaned pathetically._

"_I don't even want to think about what's going to happen to Roy and everyone. What was he thinking? He knows what his neighbors are like, they'll call the police for sure, and they get so suspicious. And when the police come, they're going to find all the drinks and the drugs." Rachel shook her head._

_Still no answer from her best friend._

"_Good thing Vic is there. He'll be able to drive a few people home, like Kori. I'm so glad Gar wasn't there, he's only fifteen. I would have given some people lifts, but everyone lives on the other side of town from us." She thought for a few minutes while she drove in silence. "You'll have to crash at my house tonight. If you go home drunk, Bruce will kill you."_

_More moaning from her neighbor._

"_I swear, if you puke in my car, you'll have to face the wrath of Bruce, because I will not bring you home with me."_

_---_

The laughs turned into sobs, and the tears began to course down her face. "We didn't deserve it, any of it. We didn't deserve to be hurt like this."

Richard wrapped his arms around Rachel, and she hugged his back, needing his strength. He felt his eyes starting to sting as well, and he gripped Rachel's fleece tightly, not letting her slide away into the abyss that he knew she would sink into if he didn't save her.

Vaguely, he knew that he would fall into the blackness too, if he didn't hold onto her.

The cookies lay forgotten on a forlorn blue-colored blanket.

-------

**Author's Notes:**

Wow, this was long. Okay, um, here's anything to clear up confusion. If you still have a question, drop me a review. :)

Names- hopefully everyone knew who everyone else was. I think the only person you might not have known was that Jade was Cheshire.

The memories were in chronological order from youngest to oldest. I've got no beta, so I apologize for any spelling mistakes or gramatical errors. I did my best, but you never know.

I think that's all. Drop me a review. Any questions, comments, suggestions etc, I'd love to hear it!


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